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N.C. introduces new online registry to expedite behavioral health treatment

State officials say a new online bed registry can help decrease emergency room wait times for people seeking psychiatric help. Adobe stock photo.

State officials say a new online bed registry can help decrease emergency room wait times for people seeking psychiatric help. Adobe stock photo. 

North Carolina has instituted a new online tool to help decrease wait times for behavioral health care. 

As the state battles what it calls a growing behavioral health crisis, officials have unveiled a new tool designed to help providers more quickly find open beds for people seeking treatment.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services now offers an online registry called BH Scan. It provides a daily update of available beds, allowing for a more efficient path to treatment.

Officials believe the system can help decrease wait times for patients seeking psychiatric help from hospital emergency departments.

NCDHHS Secretary Kody Kinsley released a statement saying that not only does centralized bed tracking help patients find treatment faster, but it also allows the state to follow how its resources are being used.

According to a news release, the online registry launched with 99 hospitals and community-based crisis providers in its system. The department hopes to increase facility participation in the future.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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